Next summer audiences will be taking a trip back to the cinematic world of The Terminator in Terminator: Genisys. Arnold Schwarzenegger will be returning to his iconic role as the Terminator model, T-800. However, that is all that will remain the same from the story that we once knew.
Alan Taylor (Thor: The Dark World) directed, while Laeta Kalogridis (Shutter Island) handled the screenplay duties. The newest installment promises to add plenty of twists to the mythology of the series. Previously Schwarzenegger explained how he intended to reprise the role of a robot, at his advanced age. In a recent article by EW, we were given a more specific idea of the story and how the characters fit into Terminator: Genisys:
The beginning of Terminator: Genisys, the first of three planned films that Paramount hopes will relaunch the beloved sci-fi franchise, is set in 2029, when the Future War is raging and a group of human rebels has the evil artificial-intelligence system Skynet on the ropes. John Connor (Dawn of the Planet of the Apes’ Jason Clarke) is the leader of the resistance, and Kyle Reese (Divergent‘s Jai Courtney) is his loyal soldier, raised in the ruins of post apocalyptic California. As in the original film, Connor sends Reese back to 1984 to save Connor’s mother, Sarah (Game of Thrones‘ Emilia Clarke), from a Terminator programmed to kill her so that she won’t ever give birth to John. But what Reese finds on the other side is nothing like he expected.
It is rumored that the time travel elements will affect the story of the previous Terminator films. So we may have a Back to the Future 2 scenario where previous scenes that we have seen, will play out differently then in previous movies. There is a bad buzz regarding the upcoming film and judging by the poor quality of the first official pictures, it is easy to understand why confidence would be so low.
Mark Reilly of Schmoes Know, was privy to the entire story and he claims that fans of the series will be livid and that this film will be the “final nail in the coffin for the franchise.” Ouch. EW uncovered one of the upcoming twists to the franchise. (spoilers):
Twist No. 1? Sarah Connor isn’t the innocent she was when Linda Hamilton first sported feathered hair and acid-washed jeans in the role. Nor is she Hamilton’s steely zero body-fat warrior in 1991’s T2. Rather, the mother of humanity’s messiah was orphaned by a Terminator at age 9. Since then, she’s been raised by (brace yourself) Schwarzenegger’s Terminator—an older T-800 she calls “Pops”—who is programmed to guard rather than to kill. As a result, Sarah is a highly trained antisocial recluse who’s great with a sniper rifle but not so skilled at the nuances of human emotion.
There is not much about this project that has inspired confidence. It seems that enjoyment of Terminator: Genisys is largely dependent on familiarity with the rest of the films in the series. However, it also seems that the core mythology is being changed as well, which will surely agitate long-time fans of the franchise.
Jai Courtney and Matt Smith, look out of place, almost like they are playing dress-up in the publicity photos. Combined with Schwarzenegger’s catastrophic streak at the box-office and this movie has disaster written all over it. However, an incredible trailer would go a long way in terms of damage control, so expect for the first teaser to drop in the coming weeks.
Terminator: Genisys will be in theaters July 1st, 2015.
Check out this episode of Schmoes Know: Meet the Press where Reilly breaks his scoop on the upcoming film: (skip to 21:30 mark)
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Source: EW Image Credit: ART STREIBER